France’s
border with Switzerland has always been porous, but Lausanne and Evian are
still two distinctly different jurisdictions. When a mocha colored Mercedes
from France renders a Swiss mother’s teenage son Luc comatose, she quickly
grows impatient waiting the two European bureaucracies to coordinate their
investigations. Diane Kramer will take justice into her own hands in Frédéric
Mermoud’s Moka (trailer here), which opens this
Wednesday at Film Forum.
The
bus driver was not a great witness, but his vague description of the car was
enough for Kramer’s private investigator to generate a short list of suspects
in the French region surrounding Lake Geneva. She quickly narrows it down to
Marlene and her lover Michel. He does indeed own a mocha Mercedes that has had
some recent repair work, which he just happened to put up for sale. Slowly,
Kramer stalks her prey, presenting herself as a customer at Marlene’s make-up boutique
and a potential buyer of the lethal luxury car.
Kramer
is not about to turn the couple over to the police. Her notions of justice are
strictly Biblical. However, she will need time to prepare. Fortuitously, she
meets a young smuggler on the ferry, who will help procure a rather stylishly sleek,
purse-sized automatic. As Kramer observes her targets, it becomes clear Michel
is basically a dog, but she and Marlene seem to have a lot in common, but that is
not likely to dissuade her.
Moka is a slow-burning,
character-studying thriller, much in the tradition of late-career Claude Chabrol,
but viewers might be surprised to learn it is based on a novel (not yet
published in America) by Sarah’s Key author
Tatiana de Rosnay. In Mermoud’s hands, it is a fine showcase for celebrated
French actresses Emmanuelle Devos and Nathalie Baye. Devos just might give a
career-defining performance, viscerally expressing all of Kramer’s barely
contained rage. Baye nicely counter-balances her as the older Marlene, a former
coquette hardened by life. It is clear she is a survivor. David Clavel just
radiates sleaze as Michel, but Samuel Labarthe really brings home the emotional
cost of the tragedy as Luc’s father, who also stands to lose his wife as well.
